nk of his injury, and to steel
himself against his chief. But the roar of battle on the right, and the
suspense and imminence of battle on the left, absorbed the attention of
even this wounded and angry spirit, as, indeed, they might have
absorbed that of any being not more or less than human. A private wrong,
insupportable though it might be, seemed so small amid that deadly
clamor and awful expectation! Moreover, the intellect which worked so
calmly and vigorously by his side, and which alone of all things near
appeared able to rule the coming crisis, began to dominate him, in spite
of his sense of injury. A thought crossed him to the effect that the
great among men are too valuable to be punished for their evil deeds.
He turned to the absorbed brigade commander, now not only his ruler,
but even his protector, with a feeling that he must accord him a word
of peace, a proffer in some form of possible forgiveness and friendship.
But the man's face was clouded and stern with responsibility and
authority. He seemed at that moment too lofty to be approached with a
message of pardon. Fitz Hugh gazed at him with a mixture of prof ound
respect and smothered hate. He gazed, turned away, and remained silent.

Minutes more passed. Then a mounted orderly dashed up at full speed,
with the words, "Colonel, Major Gahogan has fronted."

"Has he?" answered Waldron, with a smile which thanked the trooper and
made him happy. "Ride on through the thicket here, my man, and tell
Colonel Gildersleeve to push up his skirmishers."

With a thud of hoofs and a rustling of parting foliage the cavalryman
disappeared amid the underwood. A minute or two later a thin, dropping
rattle of musketry, five hundred yards or so to the front, announced
that the sharpshooters of the Fourteenth were at work. Almost
immediately there was an angry response, full of the threatenings and
execution of death. Through the lofty leafage tore the screech of a
shell, bursting with a sharp crash as it passed overhead, and scattering
in humming slivers. Then came another, and another, and many more,
chasing each other with hoarse hissings through the trembling air, a
succession of flying serpents. The enemy doubtless believed that nearly
the whole attacking force was massed in the wood around the road, and
they had brought at least four guns to bear upon that point, and were
working them with the utmost possible rapidity. Presently a large
chestnut, not fifty yards fro